


Into The Darkness (We Are One)

by bucketofbarnes



Category: Thief (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Gen, No Proofreading We Die Like Men, irregular updates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-12-21 04:56:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11936769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bucketofbarnes/pseuds/bucketofbarnes
Summary: Garrett manages to reach The Claw in time and give it to Erin. This saves her, however, he falls into The Primal in her place.





	1. Prologue: The Drop

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mangal2012](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mangal2012/gifts).



> Done for Mangal2012's prompt in which Garrett fell into The Primal instead of Erin.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She'd never meant for it to happen.

She’d never meant for it to happen.

She had been so excited to see Garrett again. When Basso had given her the job she had expected to work with just any other thief, right up until she heard that familiar voice behind her.

“Care to make a little more noise next time?” The sound of his voice brightened her mood almost immediately, despite the tiny shred of apprehension inside of her. They had had their differences in the past, their morals and attitudes clashing like swords, but perhaps after their time apart…

“How else would you know it was me?” She grinned, “Basso _did_ tell you we were working together on this, right?”

“Well, I showed up so what do you think?” Garrett replied. He was studying her warily, but he didn’t seem hostile like the last time they had spoken.

“Ha!” She laughed, “I think you haven’t changed a bit. C’mon, it’ll be just like old times!”

She took off, flying over the rooftops with Garrett right behind her. It felt just like those nights years ago, when they used to take the thieves’ highway by storm, stealing whatever they wanted, side by side. She finally jumped down into an alleyway and heard Garrett drop down behind her.

“Glad you could make it.” She jeered.

Garrett stood from his crouch and made his way over to her. “Did you pick that route because it was fast, or because you thought it’d be fun?”

“Can’t it be both?”

Garrett shook his head at her, his expression a mix of amusement and exasperation. “C’mon, let’s get Basso his commission.”

They crept forward and Erin peered through the bars of the heavy iron gate blocking their path, trying to spot any guards patrolling the grounds.

“Are you going to use any of those shadows, Lady Lamplight?” She grinned at the nickname, even as she pushed the gate open.

“I was just scouting ahead, I know you always like to go first.” She let Garrett pass her and they stopped to peer around a corner.

Two guards walked down the alley in front of them, armed to the teeth. The sight of them almost soured her mood. She knew what the guards would do to the two of them if they caught them. She’d heard the stories about thieves having their fingers broken, or having their hands dipped in tar before they were strung from a noose, left to hang above the city as a message to other thieves.

They crept down the alleyway behind them and watched them walk out of sight. Erin glanced around, looking for a way past, before she remembered her newest invention. She grabbed The Claw from her hip with a grin and turned to Garrett.

“You should get yourself one of these.” She said, brandishing The Claw. “See you on the other side!”

She dug The Claw into the metal grating above her and heaved herself up onto the rooftop. She smirked as she saw Garrett creeping around the courtyard, ducking behind crates and hurrying past guards and citizens on their way to take part in the Summer Festival. She would be halfway across by the time he even began climbing to the top. She made her way across the rooftops until she neared the top of a ladder and waited impatiently. She eventually saw Garrett’s hood pop up over the edge and called out to him.

“Garrett, come on!” He pulled himself up and walked over to her.

“Jealous of the claw? I made it myself.” She boasted, waving her creation around in the air with pride. It had taken her a long time to make, to find the right parts and figure out how to make it work, but it had been well worth all of the work.

“I’m sure the watch will be very impressed. They’ll certainly hear us coming.” She felt a twinge of annoyance as his tone. Was he totally incapable of just saying something positive? Of telling her that she had done well for once?

“They’ll have to catch me first!” She turned away from him, ducking under a large pipe and dropping down onto the next roof.

“Just be aware of your surroundings!” She heard Garrett call from behind her.

“It’s not about taking in the _sights_ , Garrett. It’s about taking in the _loot_!” She pulled herself up into a window using the claw and peered down at him. “You _do_ still steal, right?”

“I’ve been stealing since before you could crawl.” He replied, his high and mighty tone grating at her ears.

“ _There’s_ the Garrett I know.” Old, boring Garrett. So stuck in his ways. But she was sure that she could fix that. “How about a friendly wager? Let’s see who can take in the most.”

She ducked into the house before he could reply and began to search through the drawers and cabinets. She found a few simple items lying around. Pocket portraits, pens, a few golden coins, until she spied a large chest at the end of a bed. Slipping her lock picks out from her belt, she quickly picked the lock and beamed as she pulled the beautiful jewelled necklace from inside. She sighed happily and exited the room through the window. Settling onto a beam outside of the window, she spotted Garrett climbing onto another one not so far from her.

“Look what I found!” She called, waving the necklace at him triumphantly. “ _Ah_ , you and me out on the town… why did we stop doing this again?”

She stood and leapt forward to climb again. She heard Garrett mutter something behind her, but she was too happy with her spoils to care.

* * *

Erin sat on top of the desk, one leg propped up and the other swinging in the air. The Claw may not be the quietest way of getting around, but it sure as hell made her the fastest thief around. Even Garrett couldn’t hope to beat her, hence why she was stuck waiting for him, contenting herself with scanning over the information for the job again.

She heard a small, barely noticeable creak on the stairs, a noise that anyone who wasn’t a thief would have thought nothing of. She looked up and saw Garrett.

_Finally._

“So how much did you steal?” She knew he couldn’t have gotten anything as precious as that necklace, judging by the small frown on his face. Then again, that seemed to be the general look on his face these days.

“It’s not about how much you steal, It’s _what_ you steal.” She rolled her eyes at him.

“ _And_ how you steal it.” She looked down at the paper in her hands, giving Basso’s nearly indecipherable chicken scratch a final read through. It was a little strange that he hadn’t said who wanted the job done, but not completely out of the ordinary. The client could have used messengers to make sure that they remained anonymous. No matter, she didn’t care who wanted this stone, only that she got it.

“Looks like this Primal Stone thing that Basso wants is in the Ceremony Room at Northcrest Manor.” She commented, looking away from the page and towards her partner.

“It’s the Baron’s mansion.” Garrett reached for the paper in her hand, either to gain her attention or because he wanted to see it for himself. She dropped it out of the window before his fingers could touch it with a challenging smirk. _Sorry, but not this time Garrett_. She was the one with all the information this time. She was the one in control and if he wanted to do the job, he would have to follow _her_ lead.

He frowned at her in slight irritation. “It won’t be easy.”

“Worried?” She taunted.

“ _Yes_ and _so should you_ …” She rolled her eyes at him again.

“ _We’ll be fine!_ I’ll pick up your slack.” She hopped down off of the desk and out of the window.

* * *

The courtyard was a lot busier than she had been expecting. Guards seemed to be everywhere, which was odd for a night like this. It was the summer festival after all. Usually most guards would be either joining the celebrations or ensuring that drunken locals didn’t get too rowdy.

“That’s a lot of guards.” She commented, looking around for a way past.

“They’re definitely not here for the summer festival dance… A lot of guards means a lot of steel. Thieves and swords do not get on well.” Garrett warned. She turned and raised an eyebrow at him.

“ _I’ve_ never had a problem with swords. But then, _I’m_ not just a thief.” She said, before moving behind the hedges and across the courtyard.

They moved together for a while, only occasionally breaking off from each other as Erin used The Claw and Garrett moved on the ground before joining together again. Before long they came to another small courtyard where two guards were attempting to light a fire.

“Every time I get it going it fizzles out again.” The younger guard complained.

“You couldn’t set a cloth alight if it was doused in oil, Son, let me show you how it’s done. If you pack it together too close then the air won’t feed the flames.” The older guard walked over to the brazier to light the fire.

As the older guard turned his back, Erin snuck up behind the younger one and killed him with a quick stab to the head with a point of The Claw. She quickly dragged his body behind a bench while Garrett took out the other guard. She watched as he knocked the guard out with a solid hit to the head and dragged him over. She glanced away to keep a look out while he dropped the guard’s unconscious body behind the bench too. Erin turned with an excited grin and opened her mouth to speak before she saw the anger in his eyes. 

“What the hell just happened? Why’d you kill this guard? He was barely older than you.” He snarled at her.

“He was a guard, Garrett. Wrong place, wrong time.” She scoffed.

“You haven’t changed have you?” That got her to stop.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She demanded with a venomous glare.

“It means, I don’t kill without thought or good reason and I don’t get paid for it!” He growled.

“So basically it’s okay when you do it but not me. I see, I get it,” She spat. “But you know that guard, he’s not going to wake up later and follow our trail to cause trouble.”

“When any guards wake up, I’m usually long gone.” Erin sneered at that. He ignored her and moved past her to slip his lock picks out of his gloves and begin picking the lock on the next door they needed to get through.

“If you’re so eager to leave, maybe I should go first.” She taunted as she moved to stand behind him. Every second that he spent picking the lock annoyed her even more. _He’s taking too long!_

With a click the lock finally yielded to his lock picks and he swung the door open.

“You’re holding me back!” She shoved past him, pushing him a little rougher than she meant to. She was too irritated with him to give it much thought.

She slammed her Claw into the grating on the wall to drag herself up, not even sparing another glance for Garrett. He would make it up to the top and meet her there or he wouldn’t. It would probably be better if he didn’t. Maybe then she could actually get this job done without his whining and paranoia.

She shot around a corner and spotted a guard patrolling the rooftop. His eyes widened as he saw her and he made to draw his weapon. Before he could make a sound she launched herself at him and killed him with two solid strikes from The Claw. As his body dropped to the floor, she saw Garrett pull himself up onto the roof next to her, his jaw clenched he took in the sight.

“Ahh… you worried I might beat you to this thing? I’d share. Probably.” She wouldn’t.

“I’m worried you’re going to get us both killed.” Her temper flared again and she turned away from him.

“I can handle myself, okay? I can move faster, I can climb faster, I can-“

“You can kill faster, and make mistakes faster. I get it. You’re not in control.” He insisted, voice softening at the end, as if he was trying to appeal to her. Rather than calming her, she felt her face redden in frustration. Her hands clenched into fists at her side as she turned back to face him.

“Well that’s why I’m better. Deal with it.” She told him, voice plain. Because it was true. She could do the things that he was too scared to do. She had no fear, and that was why in the end, she would always be a better thief than him. “Let’s just get the job done.”

* * *

Erin didn’t know what she had been expecting to see when they crept across the roof of Northcrest Manor to peer through the glass dome on top. There were multiple people down below, most of them standing in a circle, while one stood at a table draped in cloth. One of them stepped forward, opening a case that held a pure blue stone, square and polished to a perfect gleam.

“I’m guessing that’s what we’re after. The Primal Stone.” One of the figures walked into the middle of the circle, placing the stone onto a pedestal in the centre.

“Robes. Robes are always a bad sign.” She could hear the wary note in Garrett’s voice. Before she could reply, they heard a voice below them. A familiar one.

“Brothers Cornelius… Aldous… Present the keys.” Erin blinked in surprise.

“That’s Baron Northcrest.” What was he doing?

“Brothers of the Awakened… we are gathered here to usher this city into a new age. One of progress and industrial enlightenment. Let us begin the channelling of the Primal!”

A strange blue and green glow began to shimmer from down below. The strange light filled the room, and the robed figures began chanting in an odd dialect that she had never heard before. This job was turning out to be far more of a challenge than she had been expecting, but she was still prepared to go through with it. The more complicated the contract, the better her reputation would be when she successfully completed it.

“Come on! Let’s go down there. This’ll be _fun_.” Erin turned to speak to Garrett only to see him walking away. He stopped to look at her, his expression one that wouldn’t have been out of place on a statue. Cold and unyielding.

“No. We’re done here. Job’s over.” He said, his voice severe.

“What? Are you joking?” _Is he serious? The great Master-Thief is giving up on a job?_

“Something’s not right. It’s too dangerous.. and you’re not ready yet.” Typical Garrett. Always too scared to do what was needed. Too scared to step out of line and live a little for once. Too damned scared to stop holding her back! She felt the resentment left over from their ugly separation years prior spill over and she glared at him hatefully.

“You know I’m not a kid anymore! I can do this! I’m going down there with or without you.” She turned back to the dome. _I can do this. I_ will _do this!_ She would do what he was too scared to. Because she was better than him. Faster, stronger, brave-

“Not without this you’re not.” She turned back in confusion, her eyes widening as she saw what was in his hand.

Her Claw.

She hissed with rage and lunged towards him, struggling with him for the tool. Every dodged strike just fuelled her rage even further. She was never good enough for him. She _never_ would be. Everything she did was just something else for him to chastise her for, to complain about, to pick fault with. Well she knew what it was about now. It was nothing to do with his morals, or his fear. _He was jealous._ He was jealous that she was _better_ than him now. He didn’t like that the student had surpassed the master, and now he was trying to ruin it for her out of spite.

She made another lunge for The Claw and Garrett dodged again. His arm came up with the movement and the hand holding The Claw smacked her straight in the face with bruising force, making tears of pain spring to her eyes as her hand flew up to clutch at the abused area.

Garrett stared at her, horrified at what he had just done.

The building trembled beneath them and a strange blue light beaming through the dome caused Garrett to turn and look. Taking advantage of his momentary lack of attention, she made another grab for The Claw. It flew out of his hand, landing on top of the glass dome with a clatter. She rushed past Garrett and carefully climbed on top of the dome, reaching for The Claw.

“ _Don’t move!_ ” She heard Garrett cry from behind her.

If she had been thinking straight, she would have noticed the panic in his voice. However, lost in her rage as she was, she chose to ignore him. She cursed under her breath as the building shuddered again and The Claw rolled away from her. Before she could attempt to grab it again, the glass beneath her shattered. Her heart leapt into her throat as she fell. She screamed, certain that she was going to die. At the last moment Garrett’s hand shot forward and grabbed hers in a tight grip. Her shoulder gave a painful wrench as she halted suddenly in her descent, swinging from his grip.

“Garrett, I’m slipping! Agh! Garrett, give me the claw!” She begged, legs swinging frantically beneath her.

She watched, eyes wild and heart pounding, as Garrett reached across the glass, struggling to reach the tool. As she felt herself slipping through his grasp, she could only pray that he reached it in time. With a final desperate lunge, Garrett fingers closed around the handle of The Claw, just as he finally lost his grip on Erin’s hand. Erin thought that it was all over, that this was where she would die. On a botched job with things between her and Garrett still in ruins and now no chance to fix them.

That was until she saw Garrett dive forward,  throwing The Claw towards her with all his might. With a desperate grab, her hand closed around the tool and she let the grappling hook fly loose to dig into one of the many pillars in the room. With The Claw safely embedded into the pillar, she gave a sigh of relief. She heard a cracking sound above her and she looked up. She froze in horror as she saw the glass under Garrett give out and shatter, leaving him to fall through the air like a child’s ragdoll.

She tried to grab his hand as he had hers, her fingers grazing his. Time stopped as she looked into Garrett’s eyes and a part of her marvelled at the fact that this was the most vulnerable she had ever seen him. He wasn’t just worried… he was terrified.

She screamed wordlessly in despair as Garrett fell. His body landed almost right on top of the pedestal that the stone had been placed on. However, rather than both the pedestal and his body breaking as he landed on it as she had expected, his body seemed almost suspended in the air above it. The bright, blinding light surrounded him and she heard him let out a howl of pain as it burned him. She had never heard Garrett make a noise like that before, and it made her heart wrench in horror.

The pillar that The Claw was imbedded in finally fell to pieces and she gasped as she fell again. She lashed out with the grappling hook once again and watched as it soared through the opening left by the broken dome. It caught in something on the roof and the rope swung wildly above her, sending her swinging through the blazing turquoise light. As she swung through the blinding light, something in the centre of it exploded. Her head snapped back and she felt a stabbing pain in her left eye as something hit her. Her vision blurred from the pain, she didn’t see one of the pillars crumbling into pieces and heading straight towards her until it was too late. She had no time to get out of its way before a large chunk of it connected with the left side of her face and all she knew was darkness.


	2. The Primal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Primal raged. These pathetic, arrogant little men thought themselves worthy? Dared to think they could control power that they could not even begin to comprehend?

It had existed in this city for ages upon ages. Its energy was a part of every stone in The City and every person that dwelled within its limits. The Primal had watched each and every one of them live and die. Nobles, merchants, servants and thieves alike. Though The Primal watched them all, it very rarely interacted with them. It had attempted to in the past, before noticing with great regret that its very presence seemed to harm these fragile creatures. Its energy seemed to drive them to madness and caused their bodies to mutate into twisted abominations. It was with great sorrow and regret that The Primal withdrew and made the decision to remain alone so long as it meant that the people remained safe.

However, then came a string of people who were… different. The descendants of those that The Primal had unintentionally harmed with its energy had somehow built up a resistance to it through generation after generation, evolving into beings who were somehow able to withstand The Primal’s great power. The Primal had been wary at first, so worried that it would harm these people too. But against all odds, they remained resistant to the damaging effects of its energy. Tired of being alone, it had gradually made itself known to these select few. They had been apprehensive at first, unsure what they were dealing with and in awe of its power. The Primal had summoned its energy and woven it together into a beautiful object for these people, as a gesture of trust and peace.

The Primal Stone.

Through this stone The Primal found itself able to communicate with them. It taught them about the energy, about what it meant to the city. And eventually, it taught them how to use it. It taught them how to activate and control the energy, how to use glyphs, create runes, how to use it to perform feats of magic beyond their wildest dreams. In return for this gift, they had knelt before The Stone and sworn that they would protect The Primal with their lives. With this solemn vow, they finally chose a name for themselves.

The Keepers.

As time passed The Primal and The Keepers lived in peaceful harmony. The Keepers had spread themselves across The City, influencing and controlling it all in the name of The Primal. Life continued as it always had. A never ending cycle of joy and sadness, health and disease, birth and death. But beneath all of that, the balance had never been more stable.

That was, at least, until The Keepers began to disappear.

The Primal had thought nothing of it at first. Compared to The Primal these humans had such tiny lifespans that passed so quickly. But before long it began to notice that more and more of them were disappearing without a trace. It tried desperately to keep track of them, but despite its best efforts, it lost sight of them. Their numbers dwindled until finally, The Keepers were gone, and The Primal was alone once again. It had mourned them for almost two centuries, its mournful cry carried on the wind.

With its precious Keepers gone The Primal withdrew from the world almost completely. It ceased watching The City and its inhabitants, preferring to surround itself with the memories of its old friends. In the end, this proved to be its greatest error. It’s inattention meant that The Primal Stone was left completely unprotected, and without the Keepers to stop them, a group of unworthy humans claimed it for their own.

The Primal raged. These _pathetic, arrogant_ little men thought themselves worthy? Dared to think they could control power that they could not even _begin_ to comprehend?

The Primal knew the man behind all of this. The Baron. It knew the darkness that dwelled within his heart, rotten like a festering wound.

The Baron had made numerous claims when he was searching for The Primal Stone,  each more outrageous than the last, and all in an effort to gain support from his followers and to reassure himself each night that he was doing the right thing. An age of progress and industrial enlightenment? The Primal knew him better than that. It could see into his black heart. It could see the greed within him and his desire for the adoration of The City’s people. He believed that by controlling The Primal he could save The City and earn the respect and love of its citizens.

He would never earn their respect. Despite his desire for them to adore him, he still saw the people who were less fortunate than him as… _lesser_. Any people lost in his strive for greatness were seen as acceptable losses to him. A sacrifice for the greater good. All in the name of his ambition.

The Primal _hated_ this man. Hated him even before the man dared to lay his filthy, greedy little claws on The Stone.

With no real physical form that it could to use to stop The Baron from carrying out his blighted ritual, it did the only thing it knew it could. It could not stop the ritual, but it would make them regret ever having considered performing it. As the ritual commenced, The Primal lashed out with the power that it released. The Ceremony room trembled as the energy slammed into its walls. The Primal relished in the terrified expressions of the pathetic humans that had dared to try and control it. It prepared itself to lash out a final time in an attack that would destroy them all when something occurred that it never could have predicted.

A body landed in the middle of the energy, letting out a shriek of agony as the energy burned through it. The Primal roared with fury and prepared to destroy this human like all of the others when it was stopped in its tracks. It sensed a flicker within the human’s soul. A flicker that was so reminiscent of its lost friends. But it was more than that. The very energy that ran though the city seemed to course through this human’s veins. He wasn’t just an inhabitant of The City. He was a _part_ of The City. The Primal cooed in surprised approval and twined glowing tendrils of its energy around him, cradling his body gently in its grasp. This little one was not one of its Keepers, but he was just as precious.

The building shook again. Pillars were falling to pieces and the ceiling finally began to collapse. The rubble came dangerously close to landing on the little one and The Primal screeched in panic. It desperately tried to stop the destruction that it had caused. But it was far too late.

The building collapsed around them and the screams of the humans within were drowned out by the deafening boom. For a moment it was almost silent, the only noise being the fragments of rubble skittering across the ground. Thick dust filled the air, masking everything from view. The Primal panicked when it noticed that it had lost its grip on the little one in all the chaos and it searched frantically until it finally found him. The Primal wailed in despair as it saw the dark crimson liquid that was spilling across the ground. The little one was gravely wounded. Skin had been split cruelly by the debris and his bones had broken in many places like fragile sticks. The Primal whirled around him, searching desperately for signs of life. Blue flowers and vines crept up through the cracks in the ground to twine around him protectively as it searched. The little one was alive. Barely. Its small chest rose with shallow, shuddering breaths.

He would not live for long.

The Primal gazed down at his broken body, whining sorrowfully. For a moment it told itself that he could not be saved, and it resigned itself to losing another one of its precious ones. Then it thought of all of its years of loneliness without its precious keepers. The Primal did not want to go back to that time. It did not want to be alone again.

The Primal made up its mind.

It gathered its energy and began to funnel it into the little one. He gave a small cry of pain as it burned through him once more. The Primal cooed soothingly to him before the world around it changed. For a moment, it was alone and the world around it was dark. It squirmed in discomfort, unused to its new habitat. The world slowly began to return to The Primal, but it seemed much… smaller than before. More contained. It could not see or hear the entire city as well as it had been able to before. It could not move as freely. And there was a strange feeling. A sharp, stabbing feeling that The Primal had never felt before in its entire existence

 _Pain._ A voice cried. _It hurts! Oh God it hurts!_

The echoing voice small, choked up with pain. It was the little one. The Primal shushed him and his voice quietened to a whimper. The Primal looked through the little one’s eyes at the wreckage that surrounded them.

It seemed that they were still in what was left of the ceremony chamber, though its lustre was now greatly diminished. What had been tall ceilings, smooth marble flooring and elegant pillars was now a crumbled ruin. The ceiling was completely gone, as were most of the walls. Not one pillar remained fully standing and debris was scattered across the ground, its dust permeating the air. The Primal felt a spiteful dash of pride as it looked at the destruction that it had caused.

There was a sudden noise as some of the debris moved and skittered across the ground. There were several men making their way through the wreckage. Survivors of the ritual. The Primal snarled, frustrated that they still lived, and attempted to gather its energy for another attack. It realised in shocked dismay that it was unable to. The previous attack combined with its attempt to save the little one had drained it almost entirely. The men came closer and hovered over the two of them and the Primal writhed in fury as it saw the Baron push several of them out of the way. It glowered up at him through the little one’s eyes as he glared down at them, quivering with rage.

The Baron turned away to bellow orders at the other men. As he walked away, the robed men reached down to grab the little one, viciously tearing away the vines and flowers that were wrapped around him. The little one let out a cry of pain as the movement aggravated his wounds.

The men didn’t seem to care.

They roughly bound the little one’s bleeding wounds with amateur skill, just enough to stop him from perishing. Several men lifted his body and carried it through the streets of The City towards the docks. They climbed into the boat and set sail across the foggy waters of The City. The Primal almost instantly knew where they were going.

_Moira Asylum._

The asylum had been running for years, with patient after patient going through its doors and very few ever coming back out. The old building reflected its unpleasant history. The building had fallen into disrepair over time. Wallpaper peeled off of the crumbling walls, cracks spider webbed across the glass of the windows, lights flickered and damp entered the building through the missing tiles of the roof. The very energy of the place was terrible, a dark and infected energy that sent chills down the spines of even the most hardened men and kept many occupants in a state of despair and hopelessness. Those that lived within the asylum swore that they could hear the screams and sobs of patients long gone in the walls. There were even tales of a ghost that dwelled within the men’s ward of the asylum, patrolling the halls at night.

The little one was brought into the asylum and before long the doctors were crowding around his broken body. Even as they were binding his wounds and setting his bones they were discussing which barbaric ‘treatments’ they would use on him first.

The Primal attempted to comfort the little one, doing its best to help him through his pain and soothe his fears even as it seethed with rage. The energy that ran through The City stilled for a single moment that seemed to last forever, before it began to twist and warp, becoming violent and angry. The energy of The City began to seep through the stones, morphing into a cold, thick, ghostly grey mist that choked the streets.

The people of The City began to change. They began to fall ill, bodies turning against them and minds filling with horrifying images, the terrible fate that those first few The Primal had attempted to interact with all those years ago had suffered. The Primal knew what it was doing. It could feel the people of The City cry out in terror and despair, but it could no longer find it in itself to care. The little one was suffering, that was all that mattered.

As long as its precious one suffered, so would the people of The City.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prompt that inspired this fic wanted Garrett to become one with The Primal. This was the best way I could think of doing it. I wanted Garrett and The Primal to be pretty strongly linked but The Primal still needs to be linked to The City for The Gloom to happen. Somehow that developed into the idea of The Primal being aware… and apparently slightly evil??? The stuff with The Keepers just… happened. No idea where it came from. I couldn’t find much lore on The Keepers so I made up some of my own. I may have unintentionally clashed with any existing lore, so feel free to tell me if I have.
> 
> This chapter ended up being unexpectedly difficult to write and I’ll be honest, I’m still not 100% satisfied with it. If anyone sees any errors or thinks that there are areas that sound particularly rough please do tell me and I’ll take another look and see if I can fix them.  
> It’ll be back to the main game events next chapter, I just wanted to explore Garrett and merging with The Primal a bit before I continued.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all next chapter :)
> 
> You can see more content, or make requests at my tumblr: bucketofbarnes.tumblr.com/

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from: Into The Darkness by The Phantoms.


End file.
